GST officers detect Rs 35,132 cr ITC evasion by over 17,000 fake firms

GST authorities uncovered INR 35,132 crore in input tax credit (ITC) fraud by 17,818 fictitious firms between April and October. Sixty-nine arrests were made, and INR 6,484 crore was recovered through ITC blocking and other measures during a special drive targeting these fraudulent entities. Data analytics and intelligence gathering played key roles in these detections.